1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein relate to an optical connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical connectors conforming to the QSFP (quad small form-factor pluggable) standard are known to perform conversion between digital electrical signals and optical signals in communications for high-speed signal transmission in the high-speed interfaces of supercomputers, high-end servers, and the like.
Optical connectors have a case and a substrate disposed therein on which electric components such as photoelectric conversion devices are mounted. An optical connector is detachably inserted into a cage mounted on a substrate (e.g., motherboard) in a communication apparatus so as to be electrically and mechanically coupled to an electric interface connector provided inside the cage. This arrangement enables optical communication by performing conversion between optical signals from/to optical fibers and electrical signals from/to the substrate of the communication apparatus.
An optical connector may be provided with a latch for locking the optical connector to the cage in order to prevent disconnection from the cage during use (see Patent Document 1, for example). The latch is moved in the direction in which the optical connector is pulled off of the cage to disable the lock of the cage with respect to the case. This allows the optical connector to be pulled off of the cage. When a force applied in the direction in which the optical connector is pulled off of the cage is no longer exerted, the latch returns to its original position due to a spring disposed inside the case.
The above-noted optical connector has an increased number of components for the provision of the spring inside the case. Further, additional assembling steps are needed to attach the spring to the case when assembling the optical connector. Moreover, the spring is a minute component having spring property, which makes it burdensome to attach the spring to the case, and there is also a risk of the spring being lost.
There may be a need for an optical connector for which the number of components and the number of assembling steps are reduced.